September – A Month Full of “Stuff”

I really have no other way to sum up the month of September. It truly was full of stuff. Granted, it was goal breaking, blister making, awesome stuff, but that really makes for too long of a title.

In Summary:

The first week in September, I traveled to San Francisco with Liz. It was a first for both of us so we made the best of our time there considering 3 of those days would be spent walking 60 miles to honor the survivors and those lost to breast cancer. So, yes…our vacation was spent participating in the 3 Day – 60 Mile walk to benefit breast cancer research and support the Susan G Komen foundation. That is the blister making part of September, but only for me because for some odd reason, Liz NEVER gets blisters. Any how, our SF trip was pretty awesome in spite of my jealousy that Liz never gets blisters. Part of our days were spent at Pier 39, taking the cables cars everywhere, hanging out on the crookedest street ever known to man-kind. We saw the sea lions, did some shopping, saw (didn’t tour…because we really didn’t want to) Alcatraz. We saw who we thought was the suspect in a stabbing at 24th street (Liz, I swear it was him). I somehow managed to shatter the polarized lens and lose the lens cap to the Nikon. Grrrr. Hunter may never let me travel with the SLR, ever again! Oh, and how could I forget some of the random quotes from the weird people on the streets.

“And that’s what makes you pretty girls liars.”
“Someone want to grace me with a $100.00?”
“Not trying to eavesdrop, but you can run an 8 minute mile? I think you need this.” (and the dude handed me a financial consultation flier. Mmmmkay.
“I like your glasses.” And that dude handed me some consultation type document too. It’s just, well, weird.

Oh, and Liz growling at bush man. No way was she gonna fall for him scaring her. Just to smart for that!

Our last 3 days were spent walking the hills of San Francisco, laughing at the volunteer cross walk peeps, laughing at the volunteer policemen (who were all very lovely on the eyes) and the sweeper vehicle full of…uh…hookers. (I can say that on here, right?!) The 3 Day event did not disappoint in the end. The closing ceremonies were awesome and emotional. The only thing I can suggest to SF is that they hit up the Dallas coordinators and find out how Dallas gets their cheering stations so huge and alive. Other than that, the SF was one to remember.

The other fantastic parts of September involved two of my most people in the world. Liz and LaBrett. LaBrett completed her very first 13.1 mile event. And I had the pleasure of crossing that finish line with her. The even more awesome part is that she did it within her goal time. I am really proud of her and all the hard work that she put into getting ready. I trained with her to help her stay on track with her pace so I know she worked her butt off. Kudos to LaBrett for completing her first half and even more kudos for making your goal. And what about Liz? Liz blew away her last half marathon time by like 30 minutes…maybe even more. I can’t remember exactly. All I know is that she ran her 2nd half marathon with a fantastic time and I am super proud of her. I am pretty sure that a full marathon is in the very near future for her.

Side bar: I think Liz and I need to plan race that we can do together. It would be cool to cross the finish line with her someday too.

So, what is coming up for me?! It should never be a shock that I have something planned because I always have something planned. Right now, I am training for my 3rd half marathon. I am just about to start week 4 of that training on Monday. The training is going well and for the first time ever, I have a training partner! LaBrett has agreed to ride beside me on her bike so she can train with me and help keep me going. (Wonder if the race director will let her on the course with her bike on race day!?) Anyhow, I am working on trying to maintain a certain pace so I can meet my goal for this half. I have a Garmin that I can check to be sure I am on track, but having LaBrett there to talk to and to encourage me is really nice. Anyhow, If I do meet my goal, it will be 15 minutes off my last half marathon time. Wow. When I see that typed out, it makes me think that it is really aggressive. I think I can do it. I think I can do it. I think I can….

*Keep Moving